{"id":487950,"date":"2026-10-07T10:39:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T10:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487950\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:39:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T10:39:04","slug":"acuff-dazzles-as-kings-fall-to-lakers-at-golden-1-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487950\/","title":{"rendered":"Acuff dazzles as Kings fall to Lakers at Golden 1 Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sacramento Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr. dazzled in his preseason debut, giving a beleaguered fan base a glimpse of the future and reason for hope despite a lopsided loss.<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic scored 21 points in 16 minutes to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 127-103 victory over the Kings in the preseason opener for both teams Monday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

The Kings shot just 17.4% from 3-point range, committed 27 turnovers and trailed by as many as 33 points, but Acuff had the building buzzing while going toe-to-toe with Doncic in the first half. The 19-year-old point guard hit six of his first nine shots in a highly efficient first half before finishing with 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good,\u201d Acuff said. \u201cI haven\u2019t played a real game in a while. It felt good to get out there and play against somebody else. Not the outcome we wanted, but it was good to play against somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento Kings guard Darius Acuff Jr. maneuvers between Los Angeles Lakers guard Quentin Grimes (5) and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) during the NBA preseason game Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at Golden 1 Center. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Fans were also eager to see three-time All-Star Ben Simmons make his preseason debut for Sacramento, but after six intense days of training camp the Kings chose to sit Simmons, Keegan Murray and Malik Monk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been an incredible camp,\u201d Kings coach Doug Christie said. \u201cGuys have played really hard, but we\u2019re going to look at different combinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acuff started along with Zach LaVine, De\u2019Andre Hunter, Precious Achiuwa and Domantas Sabonis. Acuff was the only starter to log more than 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Second-year guard Nique Clifford turned in an impressive performance off the bench. He scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds and two assists.<\/p>\n

Maxime Raynaud and Daeqwon Plowden scored 12 points apiece for Sacramento. LaVine scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in 15 minutes. Sabonis had four points, three rebounds and three assists while committing five turnovers in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Acuff was the engine in Sacramento\u2019s offense. He scored at all three levels, showing off his shot-making and shot-creation abilities with an impressive array of moves.<\/p>\n

There was a stretch in the third quarter when Acuff was guarded by Quentin Grimes, who is widely regarded as a strong point-of-attack defender. Acuff went left and went right, getting by Grimes rather easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m going to face a tough defender every night, so that\u2019s why I stay in the gym,\u201d Acuff said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the little things, just reading the game, making sure the floor is spaced out, making sure everybody is where they need to be so if I get a chance to do something, and when I don\u2019t, I just learn from it. It helps me every day to learn from seeing different defenders on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christie agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s composed,\u201d Christie said. \u201cHe just don\u2019t feel no pressure. He plays his game. He takes his time. He\u2019s still learning the league, but what he\u2019s bringing into the league and what he\u2019s bringing into this organization is composure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking sharp<\/p>\n

Christie said Acuff\u2019s elite offensive skillset is getting ever stronger because he is often guarded by rookie second-round draft pick Emanuel Sharpe in practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIron sharpens iron,\u201d Christie said. \u201cThey\u2019re very good for each other in a lot of different ways, so that\u2019s a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharp is highly regarded as a 3-and-D prospect. He went 2 of 11 from the field and 1 of 8 from 3-point range, but he was credited with frustrating Doncic, who went 5 of 12 from the field and 3 of 9 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmanuel is special,\u201d Christie said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to earn everything he gets. He\u2019s going to earn it. I think he will become one of those fan favorites. Love everything about him. Love his physicality. He shoots the ball when he\u2019s open. Really excited to see him get out and play that way. That\u2019s what I expected, but it\u2019s really good to see it out on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honoring the G-Man<\/p>\n

The Kings held a brief ceremony before Monday\u2019s game to unveil the newly named Gary \u201cG-Man\u201d Gerould Media Center.<\/p>\n

Gerould is entering his 42nd season as the radio voice of the Kings. He has manned the position since the Kings relocated from Kansas City in 1985, endearing himself to generations of fans in Sacramento while becoming one of the most beloved figures in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\"Gary Gary \u201cG-Man\u201d Gerould, the legendary radio play-by-play voice of the Sacramento Kings since 1985, is embraced by Los Angeles Lakers television play-by-play announcer Bill Macdonald after being recognized for his work with the permanent naming of the Golden 1 Center press workspace as the Gary ‘G-Man’ Gerould Media Center on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u201cWell deserved, first and foremost,\u201d Christie said following the dedication ceremony. \u201cIncredible. What a career and still going. Forty-two years. G-Man has dedicated his life to Sacramento. That\u2019s huge, man. We love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gary Gary \u201cG-Man\u201d Gerould, the legendary radio play-by-play voice of the Sacramento Kings since 1985, was recognized for his work with the permanent naming of the Golden 1 Center press workspace as the Gary ‘G-Man’ Gerould Media Center on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com Up next<\/p>\n

The Kings will face the Lakers again when they visit Crypto.com Arena on Thursday in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The Kings will play a total of five preseason games. They will visit the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco, play host to the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 13 and travel to face the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published October 6, 2026 at 8:48 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Jason Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Jason Anderson has been the Sacramento Kings beat writer for The Sacramento Bee since 2018. He is a Sacramento native who is proud to provide coverage that is as passionate and dedicated as the loyal Kings fan base.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr. dazzled in his preseason debut, giving a beleaguered fan base a glimpse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-487950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}